Insole for Footwear

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an insole for footwear adapted to be received into a variety of footwear, the insole including: upper and lower plates made of a synthetic resin film and joined to each other by means of high-frequency bonding; a chamber formed between the upper and lower plates and having a shock-absorbing compression member embedded thereinto in such a manner as to be located at the rear side of the footwear upon the wearing of the footwear; air-introducing means adapted to communicate with the chamber in such a manner as to be located at the front side of the footwear upon the wearing of the footwear so as to introduce the internal air of the footwear to the chamber; and air-exhausting means adapted to communicate with the chamber so as to exhaust the air introduced to the chamber to the outside.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an insole for footwear, and more particularly, to an insole for footwear that has air-exhausting means adapted to remove bad smells and moisture emitted from the interior of the footwear, such that since the insole is made as an independent product, it can be coupled to a variety of footwear to improve the sanitary state of the interior of the footwear and to make a wearer feel refreshed during wearing, thereby ultimately keeping the wearer's foot at a healthy state.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Since air is not circulated smoothly in the interior of footwear, generally, secretions like sweat are made to facilitate the propagation of bacteria and the generation of bad smells therein.

In order to solve these problems, hence, various kinds of footwear have been availably proposed which includes a midsole having air-ventilating means. Since the insole is located on the midsole upon the wearing of the footwear, however, the bad smells and moisture caused by the secretions like sweat generated from a wearer's foot are not exhausted smoothly to the outside of the footwear by means of the air-ventilating means operated in the midsole. Furthermore, since the midsole having the air-ventilating means is put on the market in the state of being fixedly mounted at the footwear upon the manufacturing of the footwear, there occurs a problem in that it cannot be freely used in other footwear.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an insole for footwear that is capable of being made as an independent product, thereby being applied to a variety of footwear, and that is capable of rapidly exhausting bad smells and moisture emitted from the interior of the footwear to the outside of the footwear.

To accomplish the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an insole for footwear adapted to be received into a variety of footwear, the insole including: upper and lower plates made of a synthetic resin film and joined to each other by means of high-frequency bonding; a chamber formed between the upper and lower plates and having a shock-absorbing compression member embedded thereinto in such a manner as to be located at the rear side of the footwear upon the wearing of the footwear; air-introducing means adapted to communicate with the chamber in such a manner as to be located at the front side of the footwear upon the wearing of the footwear so as to introduce the internal air of the footwear to the chamber; and air-exhausting means adapted to communicate with the chamber so as to exhaust the air introduced to the chamber to the outside.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an insole for footwear according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the structure of an upper plate in the insole for footwear according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the structure of a lower plate in the insole for footwear according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the insole for footwear according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the upper and lower plates in the insole for footwear according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a case where an auxiliary air-exhausting pipe is applied in the insole for footwear according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing one example of use state of the insole for footwear according to the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing another example of use sate of the insole for footwear according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an insole for footwear according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are plan views showing the structures of upper and lower plates in the insole for footwear according to the present invention. Hereinafter, an explanation on an insole for footwear according to the present invention will be given with reference to the attached drawings.

That is, the insole 1 for footwear according to the present invention includes a chamber 4 formed between upper and lower plates 2 and 3 made of a synthetic resin film (e.g., a PVC film), air-introducing means 6 adapted to compress the chamber 4 by means of the force generated during walking so as to introduce the air inside the footwear 5 to the chamber 4, a filter member 7 adapted to filter foreign materials and dust upon the introduction of the air inside the footwear 5, air-exhausting means 8 adapted to exhaust the introduced air to the outside of the footwear 5, and a noise-blocking member 9 adapted to block the noise generated during the air exhausting. After the above-mentioned parts are mounted between the upper and lower plates 2 and 3, the upper and lower plates 2 and 3 are received into a given mold and integrally joined to each other by means of high-frequency bonding, thereby making the insole 1 for footwear according to the present invention.

The upper and lower plates 2 and 3 are made of a synthetic resin film like an EVA film, a PVC film and so on and are cut to such the shapes as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The upper plate 2 has various sizes in accordance with footwear sizes, and it is desirably formed of the synthetic resin film having a fiber material fixedly bonded on the upper surface thereof, that is, on the portion with which the wearer's foot comes into contact.

The upper plate 2 has through-holes 10 and 11 formed on the front and rear side surfaces thereof such that a first filter 12 of the filter member 7 and the chamber 4 mounted on the lower plate 3 may be exposed at the time of joining the upper and lower plates 2 and 3 to each other by means of the high-frequency bonding.

As noted above, the lower plate 3 has the air-introducing means 6 adapted to compress the chamber 4 by means of the force generated during walking so as to introduce the air inside the footwear 5 to the chamber 4, the filter member 7 adapted to filter foreign materials and dust upon the introduction of the air inside the footwear 5, the air-exhausting means 8 adapted to exhaust the introduced air to the outside of the footwear 5, and the noise-blocking member 9 adapted to block the noise generated during the air exhausting. At the inside of the chamber 4 is embedded a shock-absorbing compression member 12 made of polyurethane foam, and the chamber 4 and the first and second filters 12 and 14 of the filter member 7 are connected to each other by means of an air-introducing pipe 15 in such a manner as to communicate with each other from the front side of the lower plate 3 to the rear side thereof.

The first filter 12 serves to filter relatively large-sized foreign materials when the air charged in the interior of the footwear 5 is introduced by means of the air-introducing means 6, and the second filter 14 serves to filter relatively fine dust and foreign materials that have been not filtered yet through the first filter 12.

A check valve 16 is mounted at the rear end of the air-introducing pipe 15, that is, on the entrance communicating with the chamber 4, so as to allow the air charged inside the footwear 5 to be introduced in only one direction to the chamber 4. At one side of the chamber 5 are provided the air-exhausting means 8 and the noise-blocking member 9 that communicate with each other by means of an air-exhausting pipe 17.

That is, a check valve 18 is mounted on the entrance of the air-exhausting pipe 17 so as to allow the air introduced to the chamber 4 to be exhausted to the outside of the footwear 5 in only one direction, and the noise-blocking member 8 is mounted in the middle portion of the air-exhausting pipe 17 so as to block the noise generated by the exhausted air.

Preferably, the air-exhausting pipe 17 has the end portion located at the top end portion of the upper of the footwear so as to communicate with the outside of the footwear 5, and in case where the insole 1 of this invention is applied to the footwear 5 having a long neck portion like military shoes and boots, as shown in FIG. 8, an auxiliary air-exhausting pipe 17 a is connected to the air-exhausting pipe 17.

Since the insole 1 for footwear configured according to the present invention is coupled to a variety of footwear 5, it can rapidly remove bad smells and moisture emitted from the interior of the footwear 5, thereby improving the sanitary state of the interior of the footwear 5 and ultimately keeping a wearer's foot at a healthy state. Next, an operation of the insole 2 for footwear according to the present invention will be explained in detail.

If a wearer walks or runs after the insole 1 is coupled to the inside of the footwear 5, the shock-absorbing compression member 13 mounted inside the chamber 4 is compressed by the force generated when the wearer's foot abuts against the ground, and if the wearer's foot is separated from the ground, the compressed shock-absorbing compression member 13 is returned to its original shape by means of the its own restoring force. The operations are repeatedly carried out. When the shock-absorbing compression member 13 is compressed, the check valve 18 mounted on the air-exhausting pipe 17 constituting the air-exhausting means 8 is opened to exhaust the air inside the chamber 4 to the outside of the footwear 5 via the noise-blocking member 9 of the air-exhausting pipe 17. On the other hand, when the shock-absorbing compression member 13 is returned to its original shape, the check valve 16 mounted on the air-introducing pipe 15 constituting the air-introducing means 6 is opened to introduce the air (including bad smells and moisture) charged at the front side inside the footwear 5 to the inside of the chamber 4 via the first filter 12 and the second filter 14 constituting the filter member 7.

At this time, the first filter 12 filters relatively large-sized particles in the foreign materials and dust out of the air charged in the interior of the footwear 5, and the second filter 14 filters relatively fine dust and foreign materials that have been not filtered yet through the first filter 12.

As discussed above, the air introduced to the chamber 4 through the air-introducing means 6 is exhausted to the outside of the footwear 5 through the air-exhausting means 8 at the time when the shock-absorbing compression member 13 mounted inside the chamber 4 is compressed, thereby rapidly exhausting the bad smells and moisture caused by secretions like sweat emitted at the front side of the interior of the footwear 5 to the outside of the footwear 5 and making the wearer feel refreshed during wearing.

If the footwear 5 has a relatively long neck portion like military shoes and boots, the auxiliary air-exhausting pipe 17 a is extended from the end portion of the air-exhausting pipe 17 constituting the air-exhausting means 8 to the top end portion of the footwear 5.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

As set forth in the foregoing, the insole for footwear according to the present invention is capable of being made as an independent product, thereby being applied to a variety of footwear, and it is capable of rapidly exhausting bad smells and moisture emitted from the interior of the footwear to the outside of the footwear, thereby making a wearer feel refreshed during wearing and keeping the wearer's foot at a healthy state. 

1. An insole for footwear adapted to be received into a variety of footwear, the insole comprising: upper and lower plates made of a synthetic resin film and joined to each other by means of high-frequency bonding; a chamber formed between the upper and lower plates and having a shock-absorbing compression member embedded thereinto in such a manner as to be located at the rear side of the footwear upon the wearing of the footwear; an air-introducing means adapted to communicate with the chamber in such a manner as to be located at the front side of the footwear upon the wearing of the footwear so as to introduce the internal air of the footwear to the chamber; and an air-exhausting means adapted to communicate with the chamber so as to exhaust the air introduced to the chamber to the outside.
 2. The insole for footwear according to claim 1, wherein the air-introducing means comprises: an air-introducing pipe extended from the chamber to the front side of the insole; and first and second filters and a check valve mounted on the air-introducing pipe, and wherein the air-exhausting means comprises: an air-exhausting pipe extended from the chamber to the outside of the footwear; and a noise-blocking member and a check valve mounted on the air-exhausting pipe.
 3. The insole for footwear according to claim 2, wherein the air-exhausting pipe has an auxiliary air-exhausting pipe connected thereto so as to apply it to footwear having a substantially long neck portion. 